How we clean at home can have a big impact on the environment. Below are three of my favorite sustainable household products. They work great for me and hopefully will for you, too!
EcoEgg Laundry Egg
I mentioned this product once during a Zoom meeting and blew someone’s mind. A reusable laundry egg? That uses safe ingredients? That reduces plastic use? That cleans your clothes as well as any detergent? That only needs to be topped off once every six months or so? Yes. It’s that awesome. I received one of these as a Christmas gift three or four years ago and have never looked back. With the exception of using Defunkify for our workout/stinky clothes, the Ecoegg is all I need.
Shown above, the Ecoegg is a durable large egg that you fill with white and grey pellets.
They are made up of biodegradable surfactants, stabilizers, builders, and binders. These pellets do most of the actual cleaning.
Ecoegg About Us page
The grey pellets are made up of tourmaline and function as a fabric softener. The white pellets are the only ones that need replacing and that’s only after about 70 washes. Basically, when you see that they’ve reduced in size by about half, it’s time to replace them. But, DON’T THROW OUT THE GREY PELLETS. Those guys stay in there. Since I like a little itty bit of fragrance in my detergent, I like that they have scented pellets that aren’t over perfumed and are gentle on the skin. For sensitive types like me, that makes a huge difference.
Using an Ecoegg means I literally never have to buy a plastic bottle of liquid detergent or an unrecyclable plastic-lined cardboard box of detergent again. The refill pellets are about a tablespoon and come in biodegradable packaging.
Meliora Household Cleaner
I know everyone is crazy about Blueland and CleanCult right now. From a branding perspective, they look amazing and I can definitely see the pull. I even use Blueland’s foaming soap in our guest/my son’s bathroom. But, let me tell you about this other even lower waste cleaner that I swear by.
Meliora, which means “better” in Italian (actually megliora but maybe they took out the g because…Americans) is a super, super simple household cleaner. Arriving in a small, 1″-2″ box, you’ll find three sticks of unscented Meliora concentrate. They kind of have the texture of soap, because that’s kind of what they are. You drop one of these into a glass spray bottle with warm water and let it sit for a bit as it dissolves. If you want a scent to it, you can always add your favorite essential oil, but I usually leave mine unscented.
They claim their product to be dye-free, preservative-free, palm oil-free, cruelty-free and fragrance-free. But, most importantly, it works. You don’t even need to use too much, or it could even get TOO soapy. I use this to clean my kitchen counters, bathrooms, doorknobs, etc. I wouldn’t recommend it for windows, though. I also find that if my face is too close to where I’m spraying, the fine mist of soap kind of gets in my nose. But, maybe I should just keep my nose outta there?
Right now, you can find this cleaner on Thrive Market, Earth Hero or likely any other zero or low-waste focused shop.
Loofah Dish Scrubbers
Having successfully grown a few loofahs this past year, I can attest to how amazing they are. A lot of us still seem to be unsure of where they come from so I’m here to tell you: A LUFFA IS A PLANT. Loofah or luffa–it’s all the same. The luffa starts out as a gourd or squash-type plant that grows on a vine. Once it ripens and is left to dry, you have this amazing scubber.
One of my favorite zero-waste shops Tiny Yellow Bungalow carries these adorable loofah dish scrubbers among their sustainable household products. They come in all shapes and sizes and are amazing at scrubbing up messes. There’s honestly no need at all for any manufactured, plastic sponge when nature has provided us this wonderful, biodegradable choice. It’s actually incredible to think that we ever thought we needed to improve on this. Aside from the loofah scrubber’s fantastic scrubbing skills, you can compost it once it starts to fall apart. But, you’ll be amazed at how long it lasts.
Or, if you’re feeling adventurous and have some patience, try growing them. If you’re not sure what to do, here’s a great place to start. I initially bought my luffa seeds from Sacred Plant Co but have since received new wild luffa seeds from Native Seed Search. I have yet to try out the wild variety but can’t wait to get them started. (Does anyone else get super excited every time they receive new seeds?). To get them kick-started, I soaked the Sacred Plant luffa seeds overnight. But, after a good rain, I’ve had tons of volunteer seeds come up in the same area. Maybe the rain soaked them enough? Needless to say, as shown in the photo below, I now have PLENTY of luffa to share as holiday gifts.
